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Land-Grant Legacy

Lone Star State

The

in the

Texas A&M AgriLifeThe Texas A&M University System

Foreword by Dr. Henry C. Dethloff

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Foreword 2

1862–1885 4The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas: Sowing the Seeds

1886–1895 8Texas A&M and Agricultural Research

1896–1905 12Show Me How: The Demonstration Concept and the Birth of Cooperative Extension

1906–1915 16Growing with Texas in a New Century

1916–1925 26To Better Serve the People

1926–1935 36Building the Agriculture Community

1936–1945 44Texas Farmers Fight: Depression and War

1946–1955 52A New Vision: Teaching, Research, and Extension Reunited

1956–1965 64New Dimensions in Agriculture and Life Sciences

1966–1975 74Scientific Agriculture

1976–1985 86 Texas Home and Garden — and Greater Strides in Research

1986–1995 98 Helping Texas Grow toward New Frontiers

1996–2005 110 A Fresh Focus on Health and the Environment

2006–2013 126 The Land-Grant College Heritage — and Future

From the Vice Chancellor and Dean 146 Bibliography 148

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Food and fiber production has been revolutionized over the past 150 years, with the U.S. land-grant colleges and universities leading the way. The Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and four state agricultural agencies, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, the Texas A&M Forest Service, and the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory — all members of The Texas A&M University System — have joined the other land-grant institutions throughout the United States to improve the production, processing, and distribution of food and fiber and meet the needs of a rapidly growing state and nation. Today the College and four agencies make up Texas A&M AgriLife, a new organizational name chosen in 2008.

The land-grant college concept represents a dynamic educational experience: the body of knowledge constantly changes through research and experimentation and is disseminated to the public through extension. New knowledge and learning brings new ideas and expanded opportunities, often followed by new milestones and advancements in the land-grant college experience.

Texas A&M University (originally named the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas) was the state’s first public institution of higher education. It was organized by the state legislature in 1871 under the provisions of the Morrill Land-Grant College Act of 1862. The first students were enrolled in 1876. The Morrill Act donated public lands to the states and territories to provide colleges for teaching agriculture, “the mechanic arts,” and military tactics, as well as science and classical studies, to the nation’s working-class citizens.

The land-grant mission was expanded beyond teaching to research with the approval of the Hatch Act in 1887, providing federal support for the establishment of agricultural experiment stations and resources to solve critical problems confronting agriculture — problems such as Texas tick fever, which decimated cattle herds and thwarted domestic and international marketing, causing hard times throughout the state.

In 1903, Seaman A. Knapp, a special agent with the U.S. Department of Agriculture who had helped to draft the Hatch Act, headed a group of specialists investigating the boll weevil problem in Texas. The result was the establishment of demonstration plots on the Walter C. Porter farm near Terrell, Texas, to implement a successful test program to eradicate the insect. This became the foundation of the cooperative extension programs.

By 1911, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas had helped scientific agriculture expand throughout the state. The department of agriculture and science was designated the School of Agriculture, later to become the College of Agriculture and, in 1989, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Congress approved the Smith-Lever Act in 1914, providing for the establishment of the state-based agricultural extension services and further expanding the land-grant mission. In 1915, the Texas legislature organized the Texas Agricultural

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Extension Service, which would bring scientific information from the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and others to every farm and community. County agents, home demonstration agents, specialists, and volunteers provided this outreach. Boys’ and girls’ corn clubs and tomato clubs, organized between 1903 and 1914, were the forerunners of the remarkably successful Extension 4-H clubs, which today are expanding to serve an increasingly urban youth population. In addition to the Agricultural Extension Service county offices, regional research and extension centers were established — today at 14 locations throughout the state.

Also in 1915, the Texas legislature established the Texas Forest Service, which is mandated by law to “assume direction of all forest interests and all matters pertaining to forestry within the jurisdiction of the state.” The Texas Forest Service was the first state forestry agency placed within a land-grant university system. Today, the Texas A&M Forest Service not only manages Texas forestry resources but is also a leader in critical incident response.

The A&M College of Texas offered studies in veterinary medicine beginning in 1880, and Dr. Mark Francis came to the college as professor of veterinary science and veterinarian of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in 1888. His work contributed directly to the establishment of the School of Veterinary Medicine by the state legislature in 1916. In 1964, the School of Veterinary Medicine joined in winning legislative approval for the creation of the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, assigned to the College of Agriculture. Its mission is twofold: to protect and support animal industries and to protect human health through detection and prevention of zoonotic diseases. Today, TVMDL is among the nation’s busiest veterinary diagnostic labs, offering more than 1,000 state-of-the-art tests at its two full-service laboratories, in College Station and Amarillo, and two poultry laboratories, in Center and Gonzalez. Through its Biosafety Level 3 labs, TVMDL can diagnose some of the most deadly and contagious animal diseases.

The work of Texas A&M AgriLife is geared to the maintenance of a healthy, peaceful, and productive society. AgriLife programs have revolutionized cotton harvesting, improved irrigation systems, increased rice and other grain yields, and harnessed biomass for fuel. AgriLife teaching and training have markedly enhanced the body of knowledge available to agriculture and the life sciences and have greatly increased leadership and education in these fields. Texas A&M AgriLife touches lives in Texas and across the United States — and reaches out to the global community. Its greatest contributions have been in producing agricultural abundance and building a foundation for state, national, and global peace and prosperity.

Since 1876 agriculture and life sciences advancements at Texas A&M have provided and disseminated knowledge and technology to help build the modern urban and global community. Society has changed and the mechanisms used to serve Texas and Texans have changed, but the land-grant college mission has not changed — in the 21st century, Texas A&M AgriLife continues to focus on teaching, research, extension, and service to provide a practical education with direct relevance to daily life.

— Henry C. Dethloff, Professor Emeritus, History, Texas A&M University

Dr. Dethloff has written or co-authored more than twenty books on American, agricultural, economic, and business history, including Texas A&M University: A Pictorial History, 1876–1996 and The Centennial History of Texas A&M University, 1876–1976. He joined the Texas A&M faculty in 1969.

“The land-grant university system

is being built on behalf of the

people, who have invested in these

public universities their hopes, their

support, and their confidence.” — President Abraham Lincoln 1862